AMERICAN DIPTERA. 391 



Puliciphora occidentalis M. et B. 



1903. Melander and Brues, Biol. Bull., v, 17 (Stethopathus). 

 Female. — Length. 75 mm. Head rounded triangular, about two-thirds as long 

 as wide, vertex descending rather steeply and evenly. Eyes small, ocelli present. 

 Proboscis long and stout, equal to the head height ; palpi small and slender, clavate, 

 with stout macrochretse. Head with four closely approximated macrochastse at 

 the middle of the front margin, two widely separated ones near the anterior 

 corner of the eye, and two near the posterior angles of the head ; a series of 

 small macrochaetse below and in front of the eye. Thorax small, twice as wide 

 as long, truncate before and behiud. Dorsum with a pair of long macrochaetse 

 just behind the humeri and four smaller marginal ones along the posterior edge. 

 Abdomen considerably swollen, but with large and strongly chitinized dorsal 

 plates; the first is only a narrow band, contiguous with the second which is very 

 large aud contiguous with the third ; fourth and fifth separated by white mem- 

 brane. Seen from above the abdomen is twice as wide as the thorax aud flattened 

 oval in cross section. Glandular opening of the fifth segment in the shape of an 

 arcuate slit. Legs rather stout, the tibiae with two apical spurs. Testaceous, head 

 and thorax darker above, especially directly above ocelli. Abdominal [dates dark 

 fuscous, the membranous parts almost white, with a small fuscous spot at the in- 

 sertion of each hair. 



Type locality, Wood's Hole, Mass. 



I have seen only the three type specimens. 



CHONOCEPHALITS Wand. 



1897. Dahl (female of Puliciphora), Zool. Anz., xx, 409. 



1898. Wandalleck, Zool. Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst. (1898). 

 1901. Becker, Monog. Phoridae, p. 86. 



1901. Brues, American Naturalist, May, p. 355. 



Male. Antennae in deep cavities, with an apical arista. Front 

 with bristles only along the side margins. Wings very hairy. 

 Coital vein extending past the middle of the wing, with very short 

 bristles. Third longitudinal vein simple, mediastinal and humeral 

 cross vein wanting. Four light wing veins present, the sixth vein 

 with a sigmoid curvature near the base. Legs slender, not bristly 

 except for weak spurs on the posterior tibiae. Pulvilli and em- 

 podium absent. 



Female. Head with very small eyes and no ocelli, thorax small, 

 wider than the head but extremely short. Abdomen elliptical, with 

 six strongly chitinized dorsal plates which extend far down on the 

 sides. Sixth ventral plate also present, almost meeting the sixth 

 dorsal. 



This genus is known to occur only in the Bismarck Archipelago, 

 where it is represented by a single species, C. dorsalis Wand. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC. XXIX. DECEMBER. 1903 



